Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a technology for controlling a target of image scroll operation in an information processing device.
Description of the Related Art
A user operating an information processing device sometimes scrolls the entire image displayed on a screen of the information processing apparatus in order to bring a continuation to the image displayed on the screen into view. Scroll operation as this is executed by the user's drag operation in some cases. In other cases, the scroll operation is executed by rotating a rotary operating part (wheel) installed in a mouse or the like while displaying the cursor at a desired point on the screen.
In the following, “drag operation” refers to a series of operation steps that includes specifying a point on the screen with a touch panel or a pointing device such as a mouse and subsequently moving the point while keeping specifying the point. This may be called flick operation in the case of a gesture in which the screen is flicked with a finger.
A browser device disclosed in Japanese Patent Application Laid-open No. 2008-112214 is known as a technology with which a scrollable area in a digital document and a sub-area within the area which is another scrollable area can be in conjunction with each other. This browser device additionally records information that needs to be supplied in step with the scrolling, by obtaining the information through communication. This prevents the storage area from increasing in size.
Japanese Patent Application Laid-open No. 2008-112214 does not disclose an action against scroll instruction operation that is performed by mistake while one area is scrolled and another scrollable area brought into view by the scrolling is specified. For instance, as illustrated in FIG. 16, a map area 1202 may be brought into view while a document 1201 is being scrolled as a sub-area of the document 1201. If a user unaware of the map area 1202 accidentally drags the map area 1202 as scroll instruction operation when the user's actual intention is to continue scrolling the document 1201, the browser device invariably shifts to scrolling inside the map area 1202. Then the user cannot get the result that he/she intended.